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If I can do it, so can you

I was 414th out of 8,530 female runners. My name was even in the Washington Post this morning (they published the top 500 men and top 500 women). This may sound silly, but when Robert showed it to me I jumped across the kitchen (sore legs and all), giddy with excitement, to see. My kids cheered for me and it was a really happy moment for all of us. I was beaming. Still am.

I will save this forever.

I can’t wait to tell you guys all about the race and I will post a full recap soon. I gave it every bit I had in me. To do the story justice and describe my feelings will be hard – almost as hard as the race itself – because it was just that incredible. I will be on my marathon high for a long long time.

In case you’re wondering, I did not qualify for Boston. I missed it by less than 2 minutes. I’m not upset. I’m not disappointed. I KNOW I did my very best yesterday and I also KNOW – without a sliver of a doubt – that I will get that BQ and then some.

In the past 6 months I have PR’d in every race distance I have run – the 5k, 10k, 10 miler, half marathon and two significant marathon PRs (both in the last month and a half). I have shaved a total of 54 minutes and 13 seconds off of my marathon PR. I am not done. My journey continues.

My first marathon was a 5:21:20. My slowest marathon was a 5:34:26, almost 2 hours slower than yesterday. That was before I had any of my three kids, when I was in my early and mid-twenties, almost 10 years ago. Yesterday was the first time I have ever even broken the 4 hour barrier. It was my 8th marathon. Go look at my Race History if you haven’t already. I want you to look at it because I want you to understand that my journey as a marathoner has been just that: a journey. And that is where I find my joy.

I hope that you read this and that it inspires you to BELIEVE in yourself. That it inspires you to DREAM and to not give up on those dreams, not ever. If I can do this, you can too.